The battle to get Americans to accept the science behind climate change has been “lost,” an expert at the Aspen Environment Forum declared Wednesday, but there’s still a way to win the war to reduce carbon emissions.

Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, said leaders on climate change need to concentrate on changing behavior in ways that appeal to people — and also happen to reduce carbon emissions.

“Climate scientists — stop talking about climate science. We lost. It’s over. Forget it,” Foley told a surprised audience during a featured panel discussion on the last day of the three-day forum.

He said he likes nothing more than addressing conservatives and trying to win them over. “I like to walk into rooms like that and say, ‘Forget about climate change. Do you love America?’

“And they’ll go, ‘Yeah.’ I’ll say, ‘Doesn’t it kind of tick you off that we borrow money from China, send it to Saudi Arabia to prop up this energy industry … You’re pushing a lot of buttons. They agree on that,” Foley said.